Sportsbook Operator Guilty!

[bgeorgia]

read here

[Jeff]

SPORTSBOOK OPERATOR PLEADS GUILTY TO CHARGES
BY RAJ VISHNU

Keith Varga, the Pennsylvania man who operated telephone sportsbook 21st Century Sports, pled guilty in court Wednesday to three felonies stemming from his arrest last month.

He faces up to 27 years in prison and a one million dollar fine, but won't be sentenced for several more months.

Varga, 40, of Bath, Pa., pled guilty to bookmaking, conspiracy and money laundering, in U.S. District Court in Easton, Pa., and thus will avoid a trial.

As part of the plea agreement, though, he has agreed to cooperate with investigators on other sports bookmaking cases, including the recent arrest and prosecution of George Atiyeh of Allentown, Pa., who was arrested last month and charged with owning and operating International Casino, a telephone sportsbook allegedly operated from the U.S., Canada and Antigua.

Varga has also agreed to forfeit approximately three-quarters of a million dollars in profits earned from his sports betting operation.

Three years ago, in an episode of "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" on HBO, Jim Lampley narrated a 15-minute segment about the offshore sports betting industry that mentioned 21st Century Sports, which allegedly operated from Aruba.

Lampley went to the Aruba address where 21st Century Sports said it was located and revealed that the address was an empty lot.

The HBO program then showed a house in Bethlehem, Pa., where it said 21st Century Sports actually operated from.

Federal prosecutors, when they busted Varga last month, said he operated 21st Century Sports from Bethlehem, Pa., Allentown, Pa., Nazareth, Pa., and Oranjestad, Aruba.

Sports bettors would wire money by Western Union to a bank account in Aruba, where Varga traveled every four to six weeks to collect the funds, they said.

Varga would pick up about $25,000 on each trip and upon return to the U.S. deposit the money in U.S. bank accounts, hiding the origin of the funds, they said.

In a three-month period in 1998, 21st Century Sports received almost 25,000 telephone calls from customers making sports wagers or seeking information about making sports wagers, they said.

In a 15-month period covering 1997 and 1998, Varga received 2,628 Western Union wire transfers totalling $775,769, Federal prosecutors said.

Varga will be sentenced in three to four months, and is expected to get some jail time, as this is not his first brush with the law.

According to police and court records, Varga was arrested in 1990 in Northampton, Pa, for receiving stolen property in connection with an electronics store burglary, and he is also a "deadbeat dad," failing to pay child support for two illegitimate children.

[brink]

They build it up to make you think the guy is going away for life, then he cops a plea and they slap him on the wrist. Why do they always make it seem worse than it is??

[Checkers]

he'll probably get a couple yrs in jail

thats no slap on the wrist

slap on the ass maybe

[<JC>]

My sentence was 21 months. I bet his is less, any takers?

[Toledo]

Mine was 48 months. What is this, ex-con.com? JC, give me some odds.

[Hartley]

>>and he is also a "deadbeat dad," failing to pay child support for two illegitimate children.<<

'Illegitimate children'? I haven't heard that term used in years. I'm glad that Raj Vishnu is so wholesome and pure that he has the right to call kids born out of wedlock - which nowadays is like 1/4 of the population - 'Illegitimate'.

[Checkers]

jc-do you really think you'll ever serve your term? varga will!

hartley-would you prefer the term bastard child? and i thought you left this forum for good??? glad to see you're so liberal you think there's nothing wrong with having kids out of wedlock...is drug addiction, immorality and bestiality ok in your book too?

[Dragon]

Ex-com.com! lol

48 months for bookmaking?????? I hope not.